Top 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Apple

It Was Founded on April Fool’s Day

Apple was founded as the Apple Computer Company on April 1st, 1976. It didn’t actually become Apple Computer, Inc. until almost a year later on January 3rd of 1977, but this date has long been accepted as the birth of Apple. There was also a third founder in the group, whose name is Ronald Wayne; he designed the first logo. He sold his stock (10% of the company) for just $800 after 12 days. If he hadn’t done that, he would be a billionaire. Despite that fact, he says that he doesn’t have any regrets. If you’ve ever wondered how the company was named, it’s because Steve Jobs had really been enjoying the fruit lately.

They Made More Than Computers

Apple is most associated with the iPhone today, but that in itself is like having a computer in the palm of your hand. Computers, though, is how the company got its start and they continue to sell close to 25 million per year. But, back in the 80’s sales were dropping at such an alarming rate, they tried their hand at a few other devices. They made the first ever digital color camera called the Quicktake, and a video game console called the Apple Pippin. For a short period of time during the 80’s and 90’s, Apple even had a clothing line.

They Use Crazy Protection Tactics

While this is little more than speculation, in the long run, it is widely accepted as fact that Apple will use very interesting strategies to keep their products under wraps. It has been said that the company will come up with fake projects for individual employees or specific teams to work on. This is done so that if any information leaks they can tell exactly what the source of the leak was. When you’re on the cutting edge of innovative technology like Apple is, it is vital to protect all the information that you can so no other company can steal the thunder. However smart, this does feel slightly extreme.

You Probably Will Never Work There

It’s nothing personal! When Apple opened its store on the Upper West Side of Manhattan a few years ago, about 10,000 hopefuls submitted applications. Realistically, that is way too many employees for one store but, one of the biggest companies opening new doors in such a highly populated area would call for a massive round of hiring… you would think. Only 200 of those applicants were hired, making for a 2% acceptance rate. While it’s wildly different to apply to the most prestigious university in the world, for what it’s worth, Harvard’s acceptance rate was 7% that year.

Steve Jobs Quit

In 1985, John Sculley was the CEO of Apple, and Steve Jobs wasn’t incredibly fond of him. He tried to convince the current board to get rid of Sculley, but they practically got rid of Steve Jobs instead. They stripped him of all of his responsibilities, which made him so angry that he just quit. At that time, he started another computer company called NeXT. NeXT sold less than 100,000 units during its time as a singular entity, but the software created paved the way for all of the iOS devices we use today. Apple bought NeXT in 1996, bringing Jobs back and merging the software platforms.